If you remember when we first heard the first rumblings of Assassin's Creed III, you'll also recall that the game's them and title were leaked by tipsters well in advance of the official announcement. Now, it seems, the same thing is happening with the next title in the Assassin's series. Allegedly titled Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, the game is rumored to take the series out to sea with a gritty, rum-drenched pirate theme.

This rumor is seeing support from two different sources: First, a Kotaku tipster to sent photos of marketing material with the Black Flag name and what appears to be an assassin engaged in some pirate warfare. And second, an alleged screenshot of the title has also made it to the web, showing a swashbuckling character in a very Assassin's Creed-esque pose.

Could this all be nonsense? Of course. But given the series' history of prematurely appearing for public eyes - and considering the visual evidence at hand - it's looking fairly likely that we'll be taking to the salty seas in the next AC title. Ubisoft is scheduled to hold an Assassin's Creed-themed event on February 27, so we probably won't have to wait long to find out the truth.

The ship battles were like the ones on that POTC game, and making a game of a series that uses parkour and stealph assassinations as its signature its really sad when the best they can offer is sea combat (and apparently making it now its new stapple of the series)

The ship battles were like the ones on that POTC game, and making a game of a series that uses parkour and stealph assassinations as its signature its really sad when the best they can offer is sea combat (and apparently making it now its new stapple of the series)

I really hope they reign in all the extra stuff they've dumped into the series and keep it tight. AC3 had so much extra stuff that the core of the series (assassinations) has taken a backseat and in AC3 seems practically non-existent. Though since with each Assassin's Creed game they've put more and more extra stuff in... it seems unlikely they'll stop. Here's hoping, though.

remember when assassinations used to be stealthy?back in the day where they didn't involve broadsiding your victim with your man-o-war?

I really, really, really like the concept of this, absolutely, but I think the whole "assassin's creed" premise will be a ball and chain around their ankles, let there be PIRATES, arr!

We can call it "Pirate's Creed" just to maintain some brand recognition, the main tenants will across the lines of "be loyal to yer mates 'n captin", "No such thing as a fair fight" and "no deals with sea demons", it will be awesome!

Pity. After reading Shamus Young's article about AC4 ideas there were better directions it could have taken.Having said that, I did rather enjoy the ship combat in AC3 but it does seem a tad out of place with the whole assassin thing.

Freerunning pirate assassins are always apprechiated. I probably won't play the game in another 5 years or so but I'm definitely looking forward to the character design.This one might make it on my cosplay list.

This could potentially be really damned awesome. I've yet to play AC3, as after hearing the reception, im waiting until i just dont have much else to play, but i did like the look of the naval ship battles and people seemed to love them, so neat. My only complaint is, well, how exactly do they plan on having assassinations? I mean, it could be really well done with moving your ship up to another ship to board it, and then fighting your way to the captain's chambers ready to cut 'em. But this is the game industry, where when something seems like it has a lot of really awesome potential, developers take it in another direction.

So we'll see. I love the AC franchise, but it's not really getting the respect from the devs that I think it deserves anymore.

...now I don't like the AssCreed games but I could be interested in this depending on when it is set. Will we fight Tench, Drake, Hein, or Grace O'Malley? Barbary Cosairs? Madagascan raiders? Carribean Privateers? Any chance I get to relive a bit of Sid Meier's Pirates! I'm going to take.

It's rather difficult for me to articulate my feelings on this rumor being possibly true in my usual manner so...i think I'm going to need to state it in another way that should get it across nicely just how i feel about the possibility of this rumor being true.

*ahem*

ALRIGHT LADS! WE FINALLY GOT A BOUNTY WORTHY ENOUGH TO MAKE EVEN THE MIGHTY DAVY JONES QUAKE IN HIS BOOTS WITH ANTICIPATION!

IT'S TIME TO CAST OFF ALL THEM DOUBTING LANDLUBBERS AND SET SAIL FOR GLORY! FOR ADVENTURE! FOR PLUNDER AND BOOTY!...AND FOR A PRIZE THAT'LL MAKE ALL US SALTY OL' SEADOGS DREAMS COME TRUE!

(Apologies to life in general for my utterly horrid pirate impression)

Calling it now, its a side game (lie the PSP style game they did) that will feature ship battles but not have the free world components, kind of like how Mario kart relates to Mario brothers but with ships and stabbing. Everyone will get excited then wen they find out its kart raceing games for the Assassin's creed franchise they will either not care or briefly get angry (OMG UBI is the worst ever first DLC, now this OMG WORST COMPANY EVER). It probably won't do too well and it will not be followed up on.

Now, let me just jump into my Delorean and see if I'm right *Drives away and accelerates to 88 MPH*

DVS BSTrD:It is the apple that's important to inspire the necessary fear. I mean, no one's going to surrender to the dread pirate Connor.

He's of course going to rename himself to Roberts.

Ubisoft basically took the only good part, yes the ONLY good part, about AC3 and said "People seem to like this. Let's make an entire game around it."

This has me both excited and a bit worried. The mechanics were great in AC3 because they were short interludes of swashbuckling action. If they become the main component they need to be ALLOT more complex and this AC3 game would have to either be linear or set in the Caribbean where we can raid trade ships quite easily and Islands are separated by only a few days sailing. We could even have a Pirate hunting story setting.

It has potential but I am afraid that this will be either all a rumour, a handheld exclusive or will be ruined because well these are the AC guys. The people that thought they had to simplify a two button system for running even further to just ONE but-ten.

thebobmaster:I'm sure I'm not alone when I say...Ubisoft, as a console gamer, I will buy this when you make it. Pirates and parkour/freerunning? Yeah, that's a great combo.

Indeed. Set it in the Caribbean where we get to free run over stately buildings or the ruins of old colonies in the middle of a tropical paradise. Let me sail between the islands on my pirate ship and discover new, uncharted islands and lost civilizations. Better yet, extend it as far as Asia during the Opium Wars. I wanna play as an assassin in the middle of Hong Kong or Macao.

I'm guessing they couldn't find a screenshot with more blur in it? Maybe you have to assassinate the bluriness? Or it could be the Blur of Eden, a new first civilisation artefact that makes things really really blurry.

So long as they learned their lessons from the AC3 trainwreck, they get my money again. I heard another rumor that the Assassin in question is Edward Kenway, Connor's grandfather. Can't wait to see the multiplayer for this one, too!

Combustion Kevin:remember when assassinations used to be stealthy?back in the day where they didn't involve broadsiding your victim with your man-o-war?

I really, really, really like the concept of this, absolutely, but I think the whole "assassin's creed" premise will be a ball and chain around their ankles, let there be PIRATES, arr!

We can call it "Pirate's Creed" just to maintain some brand recognition, the main tenants will across the lines of "be loyal to yer mates 'n captin", "No such thing as a fair fight" and "no deals with sea demons", it will be awesome!

Actually, ship to ship combat could be a very stealthy affair.

You need to realise that the 'ship' itself is the character in the encounter and the crew just happen to be its lifeblood. Two ships encounter each other on the high seas with no other sail in sight... who reports the aftermath if a ship is sank with no survivors? It's an assassination.

The idea of running up different flags, wearing different uniforms or even changing the name of your ship to confuse other captains is a whole new method of deception that no game has attempted yet. The Assassins of Assassin's Creed would be the perfect organization to embrace that type of naval combat.

Ohoh, oh! Is it that time for wild speculation?!PHA+PGltZyBzcmM9Imh0dHA6Ly9hdGhsZXRlc3RhdHVzLmNvbS93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAxMi8wOC9leGNpdGVkLmpwZyIgYWx0PSJpbWFnZSIvPjwvcD4=

Let's see...

This time around, not only will there be tailors to change your outfit color, but there will also be barbers that can dye your piratey beard and braids as well.

There'll be new assassinations/attacks that involve hidden weapons in your beard.

There'll be a health system where if you receive enough damage to any given limb, it'll be amputated to prevent infection and you'll have the option to replace it with hooks, blades, pegs, guns, oars, and/or mops. Gotta swab those decks somehow.

You'll be able to send any crew members who do so much as give you the slightest impression they may be sneering at you walking off the plank, or strapping a cannon ball to their leg and throwing them overboard.

You can choose between a pet parrot, monkey, or Kraken.

When you get rotten teeth, you can choose which materials and with what style you can have your false teeth to be fashioned.

erttheking:As the one of ten people who actually like Assassin's Creed 3, I like this concept.

Yay so that makes 2 of us. The only thing that bothers me about AC3, is how detached connor and the whole assassin actual creed and reaching are from reality. It a little hard to explain, but I don't find myself sympathizing with connor. Then again I only killed 3 templars so far (in the part after the dungeon), so maybe the game will prove me wrong.

On topic: Really excited about this. Loved the naval warfare in AC3, even if it was pretty rudimentary. They need to make it so you can change ammo, and especially board ships.